By Alice and her Mum Aoife

In July of 2012 we were on a family holiday in Spain. Normally I was the little chatty happy baby of the household always curious about something. But something was very different this time. I was very tired, pale and bloated and over the following days I developed bruises and a very distinct pin prick looking rash over my legs.

My mum thought I had a virus and when we got home we went to the GP, who sent us straight to A&E. Within 45 minutes of arriving at Crumlin A&E we were in a side room and had blood results back. The doctor on duty knelt in front of my mum, who was sitting with me on her lap. to say that it wasn’t good news. She had to tell her 3 or 4 times that I had leukaemia.
The following days and weeks our family lives changed faster than ever. Alice had her Hickman (a line in her chest that gives medication) placed, had a tube placed in her nose to feed her as she weighed so little. Her hair thinned then fell out completely. She had procedures ,tests, needles, medicines and therapies, one after another. Alice’s dad and Nana had to stay away to look after her older brother, as he just had started secondary school.

One night Alice was very floppy and was running a temperature. When children with cancer have any form of infection it can be extremely dangerous as they have little to no immune system when on chemotherapy. I brought her straight into Crumlin, who pumped antibiotics and antivirals into her, but weren’t able to get on top of the infection. It took a couple of weeks and infection control were called in, ICU was being considered.

My mum sang to me the gorgeous song Run by Snow Patrol, which has stayed with me since and always means a lot when I hear it, still to this day. A few weeks later my hair started to thin again and my mum decided to take me to the hairdresser to shave it off before it came out during play school. I just remember being so incredibly upset sitting in the chair watching all my hair flop to the floor. I wore hats and wigs afterwards, as even at 4 years old, I couldn’t stand the thought of not having any hair.

We had many amazing nurses, support staff and my incredible consultants who did absolutely everything for me to try and give me that little bit of childhood that I so desperately needed. Thankfully I made it through and continued on the battle for the finish line.

In 2013 a group of parents of children battling childhood cancer, including my gorgeous mum, joined together to advocate for a very under-funded cancer support in Ireland at the time; thanks to them Childhood Cancer Ireland was founded!

My hair started to grow back, and my beautiful little sister Liliana Rose was born and in March 2015 I had my last dose of chemotherapy. The day we had been waiting for after 3 long years. We celebrated by going out for afternoon tea in Dublin 🙂
And I hit all my milestones (a little late).

But unfortunately, what nobody warned us about was how little supports there was at the time for children and families like mine after treatment. I struggled with socialising, anxiety, nightmares and many other things after, but powered on.

My biggest hope that’s always been in my head is to make changes for people like me so that no child will have to struggle through after treatment the way a lot of us did!

In 2022 I began having a few medical issues that are hopefully not long term, however I’m still struggling and battling with today: I try my very hardest to not let that interfere with helping others!

When I turned 16 this year I set up my social media accounts to share my story and spread awareness around childhood cancer and chronic Illnesses in hope that it might make others feel less alone. I want to continue the legacy in my mother’s work with joining Childhood Cancer Ireland and doing my absolute best in giving children and adolescents a better chance in this battle against cancer and the life after treatment.

Never forget how far you’ve come, always share your bravery and find the sunshine in everything!